Six months after the proposed acquisition, affiliates of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) completed a $26 billion buyout of e-commerce and payments processing giant First Data Corp. The deal, first announced six months ago, had to clear international regulatory hurdles, investor approval and concerns of nervous bankers about First Data’s debt load. First Data stock ceased trading on the NYSE Tuesday. Former MCI and Compaq CEO Michael D. Capellas becomes First Data's new chairman and CEO, replacing longtime First Data executive Ric Duques. U.S. operations will be lead by Ed Labry, and include the company’s commercial services and financial institutional services units. Labry was president of commercial services. David Yates will lead international operations, and Tom Bell, Accenture’s former managing director for communications and high tech, has joined the company as evp and Chief Strategy Officer. David Dibble remains as First Data’s evp and CTO.
-
Synovus Financial demonstrated at an industry conference how it is using Microsoft's Copilot to help its staff address customers' concerns.
March 28 -
The U.S. arm of Spanish banking giant Santander has hired Swati Bhatia to oversee retail banking and its digital transformation efforts. Bhatia joins at "an inflection point" for the company, which aims to be "a digital bank with branches," CEO Tim Wennes said.
March 28 -
Mariya Rosberg is named Americas head of banking and financial services at Marsh McLennan's Oliver Wyman unit; startup ZayZoon raised $15 million in a new funding round; and more in the weekly banking news roundup.
March 28 -
Last year, the Raleigh, N.C.-based Integrated called off a deal to sell itself to MVB Financial after bank stocks took a hit in the aftermath of the regional bank failures. Capital hopes to expand its government-guaranteed lending with the transaction.
March 28 -
Once a prominent figure spurring financial institutions to engage in cryptocurrency, Bankman-Fried's downslide began with the collapse of the digital asset exchange FTX in late 2022 and hit rock bottom with his sentencing to 25 years in prison.
March 28 -
But the 30-year fixed rate mortgage is still near 7%, and that remains the overhang on the housing market, Freddie Mac said.
March 28